Tuesday, November 24, 2009
This is terribly self indulgent I know but...
To me, re online RPG,
"Hey! We hope you're feeling better.
It's getting close to the switch, and we had some concerns. You haven't messaged us to say that you're not going to be ready to resume playing, and so we have assumed you do intend to start again. But while R..... was substituting for you, she was more active and engaged than you had been prior, as a player, and we'd really like to see that level of activity continue. She frequently engaged other players - in threads, or in planning - and was active in working to move the plot forward and develop character relationships. This helped other players, who interacted with and depended upon Robin, and in turn, helped the overall game.
If you don't think that you can participate to this degree, please let us know, so that we can give the character away permanently.We don't mind giving breaks when they are needed, but we expect a certain amount of posting to be maintained, especially as Robin is such an important character. We'd like to see you interacting with other players and replying promptly in threads every few days, at least. If in two weeks, you haven't posted much, we'll talk to you again.
If you would like to return to play a different, less-involved character, you are more than welcome. Stepping down as Robin will not be counted against you should you re-apply as another character.
Please take some time to think this over before getting back to us. The switch is due to occur on November 25th, right as the Michaelmas ball is getting underway. We wish you the best of luck, and we want to support you whatever your decision.
Sincerely,
-the mods"
The reply I should send;
"Dear Mods,
Thank you for your remarkably pompous and obviously committee-written email. Given that I know all four of you relatively well, I would suggest that you might want to consider sending future emails from a person on behalf of the Mods, unless you really find the pseudo-anonymity comforting. And those of you who consider yourselves writers- think again.
I am pleased that my substitute proved such a roaring success, particularly in view of my own inadequacies. It was clearly the right decision for you to suspend me from the game for a month on being told that I would be unable to play for a few days. Something resembling consultation might have been appreciated, but you did at least tell me after the arrangements were made.
I am somewhat surprised to hear that she has been actively moving the plot forward. I have been reading the various threads as zealously as I could stomach, given their tendency to dire sentimentality, and I have not been able to detect very much in the way of a plot to move in any direction. In the two months or so that the game has been running, in many hundreds of posts, the ever increasing number of characters have not between them been able to generate enough plot for moderate length short story, nor any sort of challenge to the players or characters. Of course the last few weeks may not be typical, as they have been taken up almost entirely with people deciding what clothes their characters should wear to the Ball , Guy almost having sex with Marian, and most players inventing a new character or two to go with the ones they already have, because more is obviously better.
However I can see that the players are entirely happy to spend the next year or so having their multiple characters meet up, talk to each other, posture a bit, fail to meaningfully engage in any way, part and meet up again in slightly different combinations. I understand that this is what you mean by character development. In my 25 years of roleplaying I have played in a number of successful, less successful and seriously experimental games but I have never encountered one which resembled a circle jerk quite so closely.
I will therefore be taking up your kind offer to throw me out. You will be pleased to know that your vague threat to "talk to me again" if I don't do it right in the next couple of weeks will be unnecessary. It is exceptionally kind of you to offer not to hold Robin against me if I wanted to play a minor character, but I suspect playing a minor character would be even less interesting than this has been so far. I seen to remember that you couldn't find a player for Robin originally, which was why I was asked to get involved, but now your game is such a raging success I'm sure you'll have no difficulty in finding someone with the right attitude, a massively overblown writing style and a healthy dose of self-obsession to take my place.
I await your support for me in my decision with interest. Please let me know what form this is going to take."
What I'm actually going to say;
"Thank you for your email. I don't think I'm going to be able to give the game the commitment that you're looking for so I will bow out,"
But I feel better for typing the first one, anyway!
"Hey! We hope you're feeling better.
It's getting close to the switch, and we had some concerns. You haven't messaged us to say that you're not going to be ready to resume playing, and so we have assumed you do intend to start again. But while R..... was substituting for you, she was more active and engaged than you had been prior, as a player, and we'd really like to see that level of activity continue. She frequently engaged other players - in threads, or in planning - and was active in working to move the plot forward and develop character relationships. This helped other players, who interacted with and depended upon Robin, and in turn, helped the overall game.
If you don't think that you can participate to this degree, please let us know, so that we can give the character away permanently.We don't mind giving breaks when they are needed, but we expect a certain amount of posting to be maintained, especially as Robin is such an important character. We'd like to see you interacting with other players and replying promptly in threads every few days, at least. If in two weeks, you haven't posted much, we'll talk to you again.
If you would like to return to play a different, less-involved character, you are more than welcome. Stepping down as Robin will not be counted against you should you re-apply as another character.
Please take some time to think this over before getting back to us. The switch is due to occur on November 25th, right as the Michaelmas ball is getting underway. We wish you the best of luck, and we want to support you whatever your decision.
Sincerely,
-the mods"
The reply I should send;
"Dear Mods,
Thank you for your remarkably pompous and obviously committee-written email. Given that I know all four of you relatively well, I would suggest that you might want to consider sending future emails from a person on behalf of the Mods, unless you really find the pseudo-anonymity comforting. And those of you who consider yourselves writers- think again.
I am pleased that my substitute proved such a roaring success, particularly in view of my own inadequacies. It was clearly the right decision for you to suspend me from the game for a month on being told that I would be unable to play for a few days. Something resembling consultation might have been appreciated, but you did at least tell me after the arrangements were made.
I am somewhat surprised to hear that she has been actively moving the plot forward. I have been reading the various threads as zealously as I could stomach, given their tendency to dire sentimentality, and I have not been able to detect very much in the way of a plot to move in any direction. In the two months or so that the game has been running, in many hundreds of posts, the ever increasing number of characters have not between them been able to generate enough plot for moderate length short story, nor any sort of challenge to the players or characters. Of course the last few weeks may not be typical, as they have been taken up almost entirely with people deciding what clothes their characters should wear to the Ball , Guy almost having sex with Marian, and most players inventing a new character or two to go with the ones they already have, because more is obviously better.
However I can see that the players are entirely happy to spend the next year or so having their multiple characters meet up, talk to each other, posture a bit, fail to meaningfully engage in any way, part and meet up again in slightly different combinations. I understand that this is what you mean by character development. In my 25 years of roleplaying I have played in a number of successful, less successful and seriously experimental games but I have never encountered one which resembled a circle jerk quite so closely.
I will therefore be taking up your kind offer to throw me out. You will be pleased to know that your vague threat to "talk to me again" if I don't do it right in the next couple of weeks will be unnecessary. It is exceptionally kind of you to offer not to hold Robin against me if I wanted to play a minor character, but I suspect playing a minor character would be even less interesting than this has been so far. I seen to remember that you couldn't find a player for Robin originally, which was why I was asked to get involved, but now your game is such a raging success I'm sure you'll have no difficulty in finding someone with the right attitude, a massively overblown writing style and a healthy dose of self-obsession to take my place.
I await your support for me in my decision with interest. Please let me know what form this is going to take."
What I'm actually going to say;
"Thank you for your email. I don't think I'm going to be able to give the game the commitment that you're looking for so I will bow out,"
But I feel better for typing the first one, anyway!
